The Cairo Opera has decided to cancel this year's performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Aida, which is normally put on every October, because it would clash with parliamentary elections scheduled for the same month, Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said Wednesday.
Hosni told AFP the cancellation was for security reasons.
The performances, traditionally held at the site of the Pyramids outside Cairo or at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, will resume in 2001, the centenary of Verdi's death, opera director Samir Farag said.
Aida was commissioned by Egypt's Khedive Ismail and was composed in 1869 to mark the opening of both the Cairo Opera and the Suez Canal.
It was first performed in December 1871 in Cairo.
It is a story of love between a military chief in ancient Egypt, Radames, and his Ethiopian prisoner, Aida.
The elections are to be held from October 18 to November 15 – AFP.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
